A Nobody No More

Remember the teen movies where a new student attends a new school? My experience didn’t stray far from, for example, that chick flick Mean Girls. No, there were no mean girls who befriended me then trashed my life. I didn’t eat my lunch inside a restroom cubicle. No betrayals occurred between me and my friends. But I had one thing in common with Lindsay Lohan’s character�"on my first day, I started out as a nobody.
Until I wasn’t.
The moment I entered the doors of my new high school, no one stopped their conversations. No one halted their steps. No jock nudged the new kid. No group of girls giggled and gossiped about the gorgeous guy lost in the jungle of average-looking teenagers. No crowd divided in half as the stranger walked past them. No occurrences in slow motion. Nothing.
I headed straight to a room numbered “246.” With the hundreds of students herding the hallway, I struggled to reach my destination without getting in contact with anyone. But exclaimed “I miss you’s” and exchanged high-fives populated the corridors. What could have been a five-minute walk went longer than Odysseus’s journey after the Trojan War.
“B***h, why were you M.I.A all summer? I missed you!”
A girl in a V-neck sweater stood in front of me with her arms open. Eyes widening, I froze my steps as she took a couple more towards me. In a moment of stupidity, I didn’t ask why the hot stranger called me b***h when my name was Jake. I didn’t wonder why she missed me when I had never even seen her face until that day. My body just acted on impulse while my brain panicked. What else was I supposed to do? I couldn’t have left her hanging. So my hand left the strap of my backpack as I closed the distance between us. I wrapped my arms around her slim shoulders, my palms tapping her back.
“Ew, ew, ew! Get away from me, you creep!”
The screeching that pierced my ears and the small hands that pushed my chest recovered my mind from the anxious state into which it descended. Cursing under my breath, I dropped my arms from the girl’s body and strode back.
“I’m sorry!” I said, holding up my hands. “S**t, I’m sorry, okay? I thought you were going to hug me!”
“Oh em gee! Why the hell would I hug you? I don’t even know you!”
Aside from the exaggerated disgusted sounds she made, nothing else was heard. Every pair of eyes attached to me, and every jaw dropped to the ground.
“What a f*****g loser!”
A deep voice broke the silence. Laughter followed the words that gutted me. I bit my bottom lip to stop my irritation from exploding out of my mouth. Fists clenched, I ordered my feet to move away from the humiliating scene. But under the soles of my Dr. Martens was a floor sticky enough to prevent thieves from running.
“Beth!” The girl aimed her scowl at my direction. “Can you believe this guy?” She pointed at me as she walked past my still body. “He’s hot and all, but what a weirdo, right?” She said in a low voice, but her words didn’t register as an idea entered my mind too late.
Twisting my neck, I glanced back, and sure enough, a girl stood behind me. Her brow arched, her pair of amused blue eyes met my horrified brown ones. One look confirmed my fear�"I just humiliated myself in my new high school.
So I ran. I ran from the laughter. I ran from the mocking stares. I ran from the girl I mistakenly hugged. I ran from the girl named Beth, whose eyes I can’t forget. I ran even when I had a hard time lifting my shoes off the pasty floor. I ran until I became face to face with a door numbered “246.”
A different hallway meant a different crowd, but I still carried the embarrassment I brought upon myself. Opening the door, I scanned the area until my eyes landed on an empty chair at the back. A handful of students lounged inside the classroom, but thank God no one noticed me yet. With the hood of my sweater, I covered the top half of my face from the ridiculing looks I would receive once they realized who I was. From a nobody, I became known as a presumptuous creep. And it was only my first day.